Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Done or achieved with little effort or difficulty; easy.
- adjective Working, acting, or done with ease and fluency: synonym: easy.
- adjective Arrived at or presented without due care, effort, or examination; superficial.
- adjective Archaic Pleasingly mild, as in disposition or manner.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Easy to be done, performed, or used; easy; not difficult.
- Easy to be moved, removed, surmounted, or overcome.
- Easy of access or converse; affable; not haughty, austere, or reserved.
- Easily moved or persuaded to good or bad; pliable; flexible; yielding.
- Ready; quick; dexterous: as, a facile artisan or artist; he wields a facile pen.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor.
- adjective Easy to be surmounted or removed; easily conquerable; readily mastered.
- adjective Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere, or distant; affable; complaisant.
- adjective Easily persuaded to good or bad; yielding; ductile to a fault; pliant; flexible.
- adjective Ready; quick; expert
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective chemistry Of a
reaction or otherprocess , taking placereadily .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth
- adjective performing adroitly and without effort
- adjective expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Leisure time is being stolen from us, language is degraded and commercialized in facile ways, and anything made for “serious human ends” is rendered irrelevant.
Poets Forum (Part 1) : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007
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Even as they immerse themselves in facile debates about the Boy King's "A-list", it could have a material effect on their electoral prospects.
Talking about them… talking about themselves Richard 2006
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Brissot became known as a facile and able writer, and was engaged on the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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The learned and ingenious John Schweighaeuser (a name facile to spell and mellifluous to pronounce) hath been pleased, in that Appendix continens particulam doctrinae de mente humana, which closeth the volume of his "Opuscula Academica," to observe (we translate from memory) that,
Paul Clifford — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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The learned and ingenious John Schweighaeuser (a name facile to spell and mellifluous to pronounce) hath been pleased, in that _Appendix continens particulam doctrinae de mente humana_, which closeth the volume of his
Paul Clifford — Volume 02 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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I’m torn between not wanting to speak ill of a fellow Guinness drinker and pointing out how utterly facile is your view of the connection between lobbyists and government.
Newt Gingrich Answers Your Questions - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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Il se fait que le mot “écu” désignait les pièces d'or ou d'argent qui commencèrent à être utilisées sous le règne de Louis IX, en 1266, de sorte qu'il s'agissait d'une appellation facile à retenir pour les Français, lorsque ceux-ci apprirent qu'ils devraient renoncer à leur cher franc français.
Archive 2010-06-01 Rene Meertens 2010
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So that class of women known as facile is unknown to me, or if I allow myself to be taken with them, it is without knowing it, and through innate simplicity.
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He has what is called a facile pen, though it sometimes runs away with him.
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Arrived in Cincinnati, where he got employment in the Western Union commercial telegraph department at a wage of $60 per month, Edison made the acquaintance of Milton F. Adams, already referred to as facile princeps the typical telegrapher in all his more sociable and brilliant aspects.
Telofy commented on the word facile
I just found this word, twice underlined, on something that looks like an old physics homework with excursions into seemingly inscrutable calculations. Mysterious.
October 25, 2009